St. Paul daily globe., 1887-08-22

u0DanS are a mucn aDuSeQ anu suffering
people, and that the whole source of
their trouble was the Canadian Pacific
railroad monopoly. have no interest
in the Canadian Pacific railroad, dI-
rectly or indirectly, neither am l ac-
ouainted with Mr.. Van Horne, or any
of the directors of the said road, but L
have lived in Manitoba for the last six
years, and claim to know something
about the position of affairs in that
country. As Justice is truth in action,
l will endeayOr to give you few facts
regarding the relative positions OF the
Canadian Pacific railroad and the prov
ince of Manitoba.
About seven years ago a syndicate,
composed principally of Montreal capi-
taliStS. entered into contract with the
Dominion government to build the
Canadian Pacific railway from Montreal
to the Pacific coast, a distance OF about
1900 miles. 1t was gigantic scheme,
for it was known that great portion OF
the country it would have to run
through was almost barren rocks. One
of the conditions of the contract made
with the government was that the Cana
dian Pacific railroad was to
have a monopoly of the carry
ing trade of the Northwest
provinces of Canada for twenty years.
Manitoba was very anxious to have the
road built, and thoroughly understood
the conditions of the contract, made no
objection to this clause, but tacitly con-
sensented to it. Mainly on account OF
this monopoly clause in their charter
| the Canadian Pacific railroad succeeded
| in floating S134, 100000 worth OF stocks
to enable them to complete this great
and costly road, some single miles of
which cost over 81, ,000. 600 to build. The
syndicate, by its contract, had ten years
| in which to build the road, but it COM
pleted it iii little better than half that
time.
THE ENEMIES OF THE ROAD,
or, as l should say, of the syndicate,
predicted that as soon as the road was
completed it would be thrown back on
the government and be a white ele-
phant Oh their hands for the next
twenty or thirty years; and it was well
known by the members of that Syndi-
cate that the western portion OF the
road would not pay for some time to
come But when the main line was
completed Sir Donald A. Smith, Sir
George Stevens and Van Home were
equal to the emergency, and with their
private funds purchased and leased
local railways in the eastern provinces
of Canada which connected with the
Canadian Pacific system, making the
whole profitable enterprise:
Another condition of that contract
was that the Dominion government had
the power to fix and adjust the freight
and passenger rates. Now if the people
of Manitoba and the Northwest are Suf-
fering from excessive rates why do they
not look to the Dominion government,
the source of the evil, if any, and the
only power in the land that can remedy
it? The Canadian Pacific railroad may
have charged slight percentage over
the rate charged where there are num-
Der of competing lines, but they never
charged an eXOrbitant rate. Some
ManitObanS have been kicking against
the monopoly for the last three years,
and they know well that the present
Dominion government, which has been
in power since 1878, was i'll strict accord
with the Canadian Pacific railroad and
monopoly, and would do everything in
their power to protect it. And last Feb
ruary, at the general elections, the peO-
pie of Manitoba and the Northwest
were asked if they would send down to
Ottawa supporters of the government
who upheld monopoly or supporters of
the opposition who were against it. And
Manitoba sent four out of five members
and the Northwest Territories did the
same to support the government that
upheld monopoly, and now they ask
sympathy. The Dominion government
says, I'VE have vetoed all the local rail-
way charters in Manitoba for the last
three years, and when we asked the
people at the polls last February If they
were satisfied with our policy they said
yes, by sending four out of five members
to support us, and does it not look as If
this agitation was caused by the minor
ity or a few sore real estate men and
speculatOrS?" The Dominion govern
ment fully believes it is doing the will
OF the majority of the people in vetOing
the charter OF the Red River Valley
railway, and / have yet to see the person
who can tell me where the benefit IS to
be derived from the Red River Valley
railway until they get commercial union
with the United States. Now let us see
what bonanza the Canadian Pacific
railway has in that country. The main
line of the Canadian Pacific railway,
from Montreal to the Pacific coast, is
2,S93 miles. The country through which
the first $50 miles of road runs west OF
Montreal
Is FAIRLY WE'LL SETTLED,
but from Sudbury to the coast, taking
iii that part of Ontario lying north of
Lake Superior. taking Manitoba, the
Northwest territories, British Columbia
and all the British possessions north
aud west of Sudbury, and the total pop
ulatiOn, whites, half-breedS and Indians,
will not exceed 200,0C0. Say there are
1000 half-breedS and Indians who are
of no benefit to any railway, as they live
in the summer time mostly on gOpherS
and berries and i'll winter on rusty ba-
con, that would leave 100000 of a pOpu-
latiOn to derive a revenue from for
keeping up 2,450 miles of main line from
Sudbury to the coast and nearly 500
miles of branch road in Manitoba.
Manitoba has now. within the pro-
vince (Which is not 200 miles square)
over / 600 miles of railway and her en-
tire population, including Indians, will
not exceed los. 900. Now as that S134 .000,-
600 worth of stock was disposed of mainly
on account of the monopoly clause,
it maintains that Sir George Stephens
and his colleagues would be criminally
liable to those stockholders If they did
not use every means in their power,
legitimate or otherwise, to protect that
monopoly.
If the Manitobans would use the same
money and energy to settle their vacant
lands that they have used to build the
Red River Valley railroad and belittle
the Canadian Pacific railroad, they
would be long way better off to-day.
MANITOBA.
LITTLE BEGINNINGS.